Teaching the teachers

It’s my hope that the last 2 days were the beginning of a transformation of teaching at the 4 schools where Spend it Well is working. 

Spend it Well funded a 2 day workshop for 16 teachers (4 from each school) many of whom have received little or no training before.  The workshop was run by the Mary McKillop Institute and focused on basic numeracy.   It was taught using games, singing and dancing – with an educational game provided to take back to the classroom for each lesson.  Each teacher was given a kit with notes, bright wall charts, games like dominos and “crocodiles” and ladders, blocks and music CDs.     Apparently the teachers were playing the games themselves at night!

This sounds pretty basic in Western countries but for somewhere like Timor this training is revolutionary and incredibly exciting.  As well as providing the buildings for kids to learn in – we’re now able to help improve the quality of their education.  Total cost of the 2 day workshop including the course, all materials, accomodation and travel costs for 16 teachers was $2,200.  Feels like money very well spent! 

We’ll be visiting the schools in the next couple of weeks to deliver some more basic resources like pens and cardboard and to see the progress.  Our aim is to run 5 more such workshops for the teachers over the next year.